Tie Breaker

WWE CEO Sells $100M Worth of Shares to Fund Relaunch of XFL

The CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Vince McMahon, has put his 3.34 million WWE shares up for sale just a few days after he revealed that he was trying his hand once more at a professional football league. Details about the sale of McMahon’s shares, totaling to about $100 million, were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filing, the CEO did it “primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC, which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football.”

The filing came after WWE’s confirmation last week that Alpha Entertainment, which was established in September, was one of McMahon’s entities.

Based on the records in the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office, five trademarks associated to the XFL were filed by Alpha on December 16. The filings are looking to trademark the XFL as a professional football league, as well as cover any merchandise that the league may produce. This had to be done since the previous trademarks for XFL were abandoned sometime from 2002 to 2005. The company also wanted to trademark “URFL.”

Last year, the WWE sought to trademark “He Hate Me,” which was the most popular nickname from the XFL. That trademark was published this week by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for opposition, and this means that any objection has to be made in 30 days. Rod Smart, the one who made up the nickname, is the most apparent potential objector. He had trademarked “He Hate Me,” until he abandoned it in 2011.

The original XFL, which debuted in 2001, was a joint venture between the then-WWF and NBC. Unfortunately, it lasted for just one season. Both WWE and NBC invested $100 million in the league and then lost about $35 million each after taxes.